This kid-pleasing treat is often sold at fairs, circus shows, and other jovial events. It is usually tinted pink, though purple and blue are also popular colors. It is made by machines with a central bowl where sugar is melted and spun out through a myriad of tiny holes where it solidifies and is caught by a ring. The operator then catches the candy on a stick, forming a confection that is often larger than the human head. In what country is cotton candy known as "fairy floss"?More...

One of the most devastating pandemics in human history, the Spanish flu was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, which was home to some of the tens of thousands of soldiers waiting to be deployed to Europe for combat in World War I. It came to be known as the Spanish flu after spreading to Spain, but its reach was global. Estimates vary, but at least 20 million people died from the pandemic. What was the only sizable, inhabited place in the world that had no documented outbreak?More...

Best known as the creator of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which began as a BBC radio series in 1978 and was thereafter adapted for a series of bestselling novels, a TV series, a record album, a computer game, and several stage productions, Douglas Adams was a talented writer and musician. Though his career was cut short by a fatal heart attack, he left behind a creative legacy that includes the "answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything." What is it?More...

Quotation of the Day

My only objection to the custom of giving books as Christmas presents is perhaps the selfish one that it encourages and keeps in the game a number of writers who would be far better employed if they abandoned the pen and took to work.

Moshoeshoe (c. 1790-1870) was a leader in South Africa who organized a group of tribes to fight the Zulu warlord Shaka. He called his followers the Basotho people, and although they succeeded in fending off the Zulu, they were drawn into war with Europeans who started settling their territory. In 1966, the Basotho nation became the independent kingdom of Lesotho within the British Commonwealth. The Basotho people honor their founder on this day with a wreath-laying ceremony in the capital city of Maseru, along with sporting events and traditional music and dancing.More...

If a chameleon's striking ability to change colors seems like a magic act of smoke and mirrors, that's because its skin is quite literally made up of special mirrors, scientists have discovered. The panther chameleon has tiny crystals under its skin called ...More...

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